Welcome to 4chanlink

What is it?

This site provides a simple way of linking to images (jpg, png and gif) on 4chan even after they have 404'd.

By using 4chanlink the linked image will be accessible at least 14 days after it has 404'd on 4chan. This is because the image
is mirrored here on 4chanlink.

How do I use it?

All you have to do is insert the word "link" after the word "4chan" in the image URL + visit it yourself once.

For example...
http://images.4chan.org/b/src/1305489361877.jpg
...becomes...
http://images.4chanlink.org/b/src/1305489361877.jpg

  Instructions:  

   1)   Copy the image URL from 4chan.
   2)   Insert the word "link" after "4chan" in the URL.
   3)   Important: Visit the new modified URL yourself once.
   4)   Send the modified URL to your friends.

You have to visit the modified URL yourself once because that's how this site will know that the image should be downloaded and mirrored.

Note: If you visit a 4chanlink URL in your browser and the domain automatically changes from 4chanlink.org to 4chan.org in your address bar you know the URL is working. You can also check to see if the URL appears on this page to the right.

Note 2: At the moment only HTTP request works, if your URL starts with https:// you must change it to http:// (remove the s) in order for it to work with 4chanlink.

How does it work?

When you visit a 4chanlink URL it is checked to see if an image is online at 4chan with the same path.

If the image is online you are redirected to it on 4chan and in the meantime 4chanlink downloads the image to its server.

The next time you (or anyone else) visit the same 4chanlink URL it is checked to see if the image is still online at 4chan.

If the image is still online at 4chan you are redirected to it.

If the image has 404'd on 4chan the previously downloaded (mirrored) image is presented here on 4chanlink instead.

336 hours after the image was discovered to have 404'd on 4chan it expires and is deleted from 4chanlink as well.

When viewing the mirrored image ONLY the image is shown, NOT a web page containing the image.

Anything else?

This site is a side experiment of mine, its future depends on how much it is used. If you like the service you can make sure it stays online by recommending it to your friends.

4chanlink is mainly designed to be used in chat conversations where the number of recipients aren't too many. It shouldn't be used for clickable links on a web page (have people copy-paste it themselves). It's a site referral issue. Links from applications should be OK.

There's one issue you should be aware of: If two people visits the same 4chanlink URL within 5 seconds, and the image is removed from 4chan within those few seconds, 4chanlink will still believe the image is online at 4chan. This is due to a small cache implemented to reduce stress on the server otherwise caused by popular URLs. It should be a rare happening, and not too big of a problem, but if it does happen the second person to visit that 4chanlink URL will be presented with the 4chan 404 page instead of the mirrored image (if he tries the 4chanlink URL again 1-5 seconds later he will see the image).

Tip: You can use 4chanlink as a temporary storage for images you wish to save while you are visiting 4chan on a computer other than your own. Simply open the image, add "link" to the URL, hit enter and close. When you get home you go to this page, find the image URL in the list to the right, visit it and save the image to your hard disk. Never again do you have to think "aw man I wish I were at home so that I could save that image".

Active linked images
You have to copy and paste the URL into your address bar to bypass the 4chan referer check (they have it to prevent hotlinking/leeching).

3016
3015
3014
3013
3012
3011
3009
3007
3005
3004
3003
3002
3001
3000
2999
2998
2997
2996
2995
2994
2989
2987
2985
2984
2983
2982
2981
2979
2976
2975
2973
2971
2969
2968
2967
2965
2964
2963
2962
2961
2960
2959
2958
2957
2956
2955
2954
2953
2949
2948
2947
2944
2943
2942
2941
2940
2939
2938
2937
2936
2934
2933
2927
2924
2923
2922

Delete an illegal image from 4chanlink

In order to delete an image from 4chanlink the image must have been deleted from 4chan first. At least five people must want to delete the same image for it to be deleted from 4chanlink as well.
URL